I was just over in the hotel business center printing out all the Mapquest directions for my route. Their computer was having a few problems, so I cleared the cache and did some other minor tweaks to it so it would stop crashing on me. As I was leaving, I performed an “upgrade” — I set one of the moose pictures as the desktop.

Yes, I know: dead silence from you people. I don’t care, I think that moose stuff is some funny shit. At least I’m cracking me up.

I’m ready to ride. I went shopping today and picked up some riding/anti-freezing gear:

1 fleece pullover
1 windbreaker
1 pair lace-up ankle-high workboots
1 bandana for noggin coverage
1 pair deerskin leather gloves

Total cost: $43.75. (I’m a cheap bastard, aren’t I?)

Here’s the route as of 6:17 pm MST. (It is subject to change right up ’til Go time.)

Bozeman to Atkins Hey, they’ve got a town with my last name here. I have to check it out, see how my people are doing.

Atkins to West entrance to Yellowstone Park This route, Gallatin Canyon, is supposed to one of the most beautiful drives in Montana. Apparently much of A River Runs Through It was filmed here.

Enter Yellowstone (map) from there, angle south to see Old Faithful, skirt Yellowstone Lake heading north to Tower Junction, then angle northwest to exit the park at the north entrance to spend the night in Gardiner. Monday morning go back into the park at the north entrance, go east through the Lamar Valley section to exit the northeast entrance.

It’s Yellowstone National Park. Need I say more?

Then ride Beartooth Highway, stopping frequently to enjoy the scenery, to its end in Red Lodge, MT. Charles Kurault says it’s “the most beautiful drive in America.” I’m going to make sure.

Red Lodge to Bozeman, where I’ll collapse into bed … after downloading all the pictures to my laptop and maybe posting a few here.

(Depending on Yellowstone traffic and its bear-crossing gridlock, I may skip the overnight in Gardiner and instead return to my hotel here in Bozeman for the night, then ride back down to Gardiner in the morning to resume the route. The cheapest rate I can find in Gardiner is $90 and since it’s only 1.5 hours north to Bozeman I’ll probably do that if I can be out of the park before sunset.)

Day 1: 215 miles
Day 2: 277 miles
Total travel: 492 miles

It’s going to be great.

I wrapped up the conversion part of my time here in Bozeman around 3:00 this afternoon and now have three days all to myself stretching out ahead of me. That plan about renting a Harley and checking out Big Sky country from the open-air point of view is looking pretty solid. There’s a Road King with my name on it reserved for me Sunday and Monday; now all I have to do is figure out where to go on it.

At this point I’m thinking I might go check out Yellowstone on Sunday, spend the night in Cody, WY, take my time riding Beartooth Highway Monday morning, and then make my way back to Bozeman by nightfall. Total mileage: about 450 miles. Elapsed time: who knows? I’ll be stopping to take pictures from time to time, so there’s no saying how long. This will be a classic biker touring trip: it’s about the journey, not the destination.

There are a few fuzzy points in the plan. For example, what am I going to wear? I didn’t pack my leather motorcycle jacket, I didn’t even pack a windbreaker. A helmet comes with the rental, but aside from that all I have is jeans and T-shirts. I’m thinking I may need to pick up a cheap lined flannel shirt or something tomorrow so I don’t freeze going over Beartooth Highway. Oh yeah, and leather gloves at Home Depot. Then I don’t know where I’ll sleep Sunday night. I’m thinking I might stay in Cody, WY, but that really depends on A) where I decide to exit Yellowstone and B) whether or not I’ll be able to find a room. Reservations might be hard to come by on Labor Day Weekend. Flexibility will be key.

I think this sounds pretty cool and doable. I may need to take Tuesday off to recover. It’s going to be fun.